News
Pub fun day in Gosport for Southsea child with cerebral palsy
24 Jul 2024
Pub fun day in Gosport for Southsea child with Cerebral Palsy
A family fun day is being held on 4th August at the Carisbrook Arms Gosport to raise funds for local five-year-old Rudy Bingham who underwent surgery last year to help him walk.
As well as raising funds for Rudy, his parents Fiona, 37, a respiratory physiotherapist and naval engineer Rhys, 38, who live in Southsea, now want to fundraise to help another family in a similar position.
The fun day for Rudy will take place at the Carisbrook Arms in Gosport and will feature wrestling, a bouncy castle, face painting, ice cream and a silent raffle. The event runs all day from 12pm with tickets available for £5 on the door.
Rudy Bingham, now aged four, was born at 42 weeks and was a smiley, chunky baby who met all his milestones. It was only when he started to walk that his parents noticed that he was struggling, unable to walk without holding on to someone or to walk with flat feet.
Rudy had selective dorsal rhizotomy (SDR) surgery on the NHS last year to help improve his movement and decrease and has made huge progress.
"Following the surgery Rudy no longer has to take pain medication and is now walking almost unaided – he has a stick but most of the time he uses it as a ‘laser gun’ or similar! But he continues to need therapy, much of which has to be paid for privately, to keep him mobile and pain-free.
We also want to help raise funds for another family in a similar position to us. We have been so grateful to how our friends, family, colleagues and community have rallied around us, we now want to pay it forward. We’d also like to say thank you to Dan Turner for organising this fun day for us.’
Rudy's mum
The family has already raised more than £25,000 thanks to community support and sponsored events, including 2,500 burpees performed in 12 days by his dad, navel engineer Rhys, the Yorkshire Three Peaks Challenge and events held by Rhys’s colleagues on his ship, HMS Protector. Rhys and a group of his childhood friends from Syston Rugby Club in Leicester also took on a two-day, 170-mile cycle ride to raise funds for vital therapy.
Rudy's 2023 Fundraising Day was a great success, as seen in the image above
The family is being supported by children’s charity Tree of Hope which helps families fundraise for children like Rudy with healthcare needs where the NHS is unable to, and provides charity status to benefit from gift aid, corporate support whilst also providing donor reassurance.
Rhys said: ‘The support we have received from our friends and family has been above and beyond. Friends from all walks of our life have come forward with ideas and challenges to help fundraise for Rudy.’
Fiona added: ‘We have been bowled over by all the support we’ve had with our fundraising. Like any parents, all we want is the best for Rudy, and it really helps that we feel we have so many people behind us.’
How to help:
To donate to Rudy’s fund, visit https://www.treeofhope.org.uk/rooting-for-rudy/
"We’re delighted to be helping the Bingham family with their fundraising again. It’s always heartening when families have a band of supporters and we wish them all the best with the fun day and their future events."
CEO, Tree of Hope
